1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an automatic charging device and method of an automatically traveling cleaner and, more particularly, to an automatic charging device and method of an automatically traveling cleaner capable of allowing an automatically traveling cleaner to return to a charger for an automatic charging.
2. Description of the Conventional Art
In general, an automatically traveling cleaner is a device having a function of cleaning by sucking dust or the like while going around indoors. The automatically traveling cleaner includes a direction-changing caster formed at one side of the bottom of a round-shaped main body, driving wheels formed at both sides of the other side of the bottom, and a dust sucking opening formed at a front side of the bottom.
In order to charge a battery installed in the traveling cleaner, a cord installed at a rear side of the traveling cleaner can be connected to a charger, or a charger sensing unit can be mounted at the traveling cleaner so that the traveling cleaner can search the charger and is automatically charged.
FIG. 1 is a schematic plane view showing a construction of an automatic charging device of the automatically traveling cleaner using a light emitting/receiving sensor in accordance with one conventional art.
As shown in FIG. 1, in the automatic charging device of the automatically traveling cleaner using the light emitting/receiving sensor in accordance with the conventional art, a power source terminal 12 is formed at one side of a charger 11 and a light emitting sensor 13 is installed at the other side thereof.
A driving wheel 31 is installed at both sides of the bottom of the traveling cleaner 30, a charging terminal unit 14 is installed at one side of the traveling cleaner 30 and a light receiving sensor 15 is installed at the other side thereof.
In the automatic charging device of the automatically traveling cleaner using the light emitting/receiving sensor constructed as described above, the charging terminal unit 14 is in contact with the power source terminal 13 by moving the automatically traveling cleaner 30 to a predetermined position so that the light receiving sensor 15 can sense beams radiated from the light emitting sensor 13. Reference numeral ‘W’ is a fixed structure such as a wall surface.
FIG. 2 is a schematic plane view showing a construction of an automatic charging device of an automatically traveling cleaner using a guide in accordance with another conventional art.
As shown in FIG. 2, the automatic charging device of an automatically traveling cleaner using a guide includes a power source terminal 22 formed at one side of a charger 21 and a guide 23 installed at the other side of the charger 21. Driving wheels 31 are installed at both sides of the bottom of the traveling cleaner 30, a charging terminal unit 24 is formed at one side of the traveling cleaner 30, and a contact sensor 25 is installed at the other side. θ is an installation angle of the guide, or an entering angle of the traveling cleaner.
In the automatic charging device of the automatically traveling cleaner using the guide as constructed above, when the automatically traveling cleaner 30 is moved and the contact sensor 25 comes in contact with the guide 23, the traveling cleaner 30 is moved forward or backward to allow the charging terminal unit 24 to be in contact with the power source terminal 22.
However, the automatically traveling cleaner as shown in FIG. 1 has a problem that the light receiving sensor may fail to sense beams radiated from the light emitting sensor due to an obstacle or the like, so the automatically traveling cleaner can not be smoothly charged.
Meanwhile, in the case of the automatically traveling cleaner as shown in FIG. 2, the installation angle of the guide installed in the charger is so small that the traveling cleaner has no choice but to enter within the limited angle. This means that the traveling cleaner can hardly approach the charger but also so much time is taken to approach.